the giving of thanks

this thanksgiving was a very pleasant one.
our table was surrounded by 20 members of our friends and family. the food was delicious. and plentiful... vvvvvery plentiful. three turkeys (one home grown one), a ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, gravy, salads, rolls, veggies, chex mix, four pumpkin pies, three pecan pies, a cranberry pear pie, and apricot pie, a chocolate cake, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin cookies, ginger cookies, sugar cookies, coffee, whipped cream, pumpkin bread, cranberry bread..... i think i just gained 5 pounds thinking about it all....
so all 20 of us ate lunch. then played football, rode bikes, played ninja, ate more of the food, watched football, ate dinner and then went our separate ways.
the following day four of us took an impromptu camping excursion. we went out to the canyons near Quitaque. after setting up the tent ("best. tent. ....ever.) we walked out to look over the canyons.
"is that a cave over there?"
"we should go check it out."
twenty minutes later we find ourselves slipping in the mud of the creek-bed wondering how to get up the bank and then realizing, oh crap.... the sun is setting.
about 3/4 the way up the hill one of the brave trail blazers exclaims "hey! here's the cave!"
"huh."
"how do we get back?"
"also, it is getting dark..."

the sun was down and the last hints of daylight were fading as we emerged from the crevasse in the earth. it was perfect temperature. no wind. wonderful. we all patted each other on the back for putting up an awesome tent and choosing the best day possible to go camping out.
after eating more of the thanksgiving leftovers, playing dominoes and speed scrabble and watching the stars we turn in.
about 2am i wake up to the top of the tent pressing int me. the wind was howling and the structural integrity of the tent had been compromised. and it turns out that we had all been awake for the past hour but thought everyone else was asleep so we were just laying there in silence listening to the wind and watching the tent roof sway violently.
you could hear the wind coming down the canyon like a wind tunnel and brace yourself for the jostling that was about to hit.
at about 3:30am the wind had changed from gusting to a constant pummeling. it had ripped all the stakes from the ground and left our body weight to be the only thing holding our shelter to the ground. i think we all slept intermittently between boughts of laughter and getting smacked around by various parts of the tents former roof.
by the time first light broke we were basically four lumps beneath a tarp getting beat to death by 60mph+ winds.
so instead of going on our planned hike around the canyon rim, we wrestled free from the plastic monster that was trying to devour us and rolled it all up, crammed it into the back of the fj and jumped in.
"did anyone get my keys out of the tent?"



so then we got the tent back out unrolled it, rifeled through it, found my keys, rolled up the tent, will all the sleeping bags and pillows stuffed in ll available nooks and crannies, hopped back in the car and peeled out.

after a two hour trip home, fighting the wind that kept trying to flip our car over, we made it to krispy kreme.

it truly was a great adventure. i loved every minutes of it. we had great bonding time. sweet family time. great food. mostly great weather. lots and lots of laughter. and most importantly of all, our gracious Savior God was present and pouring out His love on us and through us.
For that -
I am very grateful.